1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to web publishing. The invention may find particular use in web publishing systems that involve highly integrated data containing a high volume of documents with numerous cross-referenced links between the documents. The present invention also relates to the generation of work planning documents.
2. Background Information
A methodology is a collection of information that explains how to plan, mobilize and execute a certain type of work. In other words, a methodology is a specific way of performing a multi-stage operation that implies precise deliverables and/or outcomes at the end of each stage. Deliverables are measurable results or outputs of a process. Thus, a methodology defines types of work processes in terms of measurable results. A well-defined methodology generally defines a business organization's best practices for accomplishing a given task and incorporates that organization's terminology. In this way, employees are able to integrate these best practices into their day-to-day handling of tasks. In order to take full advantage of this wealth of knowledge, methodologies must be accessible to various levels of employees throughout the organization. Publishing methodologies on an organization's intranet or securely on the Internet makes the methodologies instantly accessible to potentially any authorized individual throughout the world.
Four technical problems are generally encountered when defining and using a methodology across an organization. First, finding the appropriate content in a methodology using conventional browser interfaces is often difficult. Typically, methodologies are displayed in a manner that is generic and broadly-applicable, making it hard to locate the specific information that supports a given context. Second, traditional methods for accessing and displaying methodologies are inflexible. When information in the methodology needs updating, the process is often long and painful. Third, the data representative of highly integrated methodologies are difficult to maintain as a result of the high volume of explicit and implied relationships that exist among methodology data objects. Finally, it is often difficult to transform or share a methodology's content as an integral part of the project estimating and planning data and processes. The present invention solves these technical problems by providing a new paradigm for storing, maintaining, delivering and transforming the data representative of the methodology.